A Plea Of Innocence
by Monachopsis
Summary: In 1971, Briarcliff was abandoned by the state. Instead of being left to ruin, the owners of a private prison snatched it up, transferring forty girls over. Carolyn Richardson is one of them, being falsely accused of killing her own mother. She's determined to prove her innocence. Can she? Or is she doomed to spend the rest of her life at Briacliff Manor: a home for wayward girls?
1. ONE

**Disclaimer: I do not own American Horror Story.**

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

Rain drummed on the roof of the van as we sped along, the only thing disturbing the awkward silence. None of us had any clue where we were going, only that our names were called out at breakfast among thirty two others and that we were led into the yard, handcuffed, split into groups of eight and then shoved into the back of a van with one police officer to look over us in case we should try anything.

Hopefully, we were getting out of that damned prison and returned back to our families, where we belonged. Where I belonged. I wasn't sure about the other girls here, but I hadn't done anything. I had just been in the wrong place when the police had turned up at my house.

According to them, I'd shot my mom. Just because they found the gun discarded in the doorway and me cradling my mom's bloody body. The killer wouldn't have dropped the gun they said. I'd gotten into a fight earlier in the night and grabbed my dad's old gun. Mom had heard me coming and gotten out of bed and when I realized what I'd done, I dropped the gun and ran to mom's side.

That's not how it happened, but nobody would listen to my pleas of innocence. "Why didn't the killer shoot both of you?" They'd ask. A question to which I could give no answer. Some nights, I'd find myself wishing that he had.

The van stops, and something is shouted outside before the doors are pulled open and we're herded out of the van and into a crowd. Out of all forty girls, none of my friends had been chosen. Sure, I knew everyone, but not properly and that made me feel a bit uneasy.

A woman that no one has ever seen before stands on the steps in front of us and clears her throat, gaining our attention. Usually, we'd still be messing around, but we were all a little confused and just wanted to get out of the rain and cold.

"Morning girls," She smiles. "I understand that you are all confused, but everything will be explained later. For now, you will be called up in pairs and taken inside. Whoever you are called up with will be your new roommate. You will go through a decontamination shower, and given a new uniform to wear. Please do so. After that you will be taken to the common room where you will wait for the others. Once everyone is done, then all shall be explained."

She then starts to call out the pairs, and I watch the two girls walk up, judging whether or not they will make good roommates. Ten pairs have been called up before my name is called.

"Carolyn Richardson," She says, and I start to walk up. "Deborah Knight."

I turn my head as I'm walking to see who my roommate is. A tall girl, most of her face hidden by her unruly red hair moves from the back of the group, joining me. I've seen her around, but we've never talked so this should be interesting.

We're led into the reception and up a twisting staircase. The whole place seemed gloomy, and not a lot of effort had gone into cleaning it. A feeling of dread settled in the pit of my stomach as Deborah and I were led into a shower room.

The water was freezing, and I bit my lip as we were showered, relieved when we were able to step out. It was a quick change into the new, dark brown uniform, being ushered out as we heard the footsteps of the next girls.

"Right," The guard who was leading us said gruffly, pointing to a room with an open door. "This is yours. Deborah gets the top bunk, Carolyn gets the bottom."

We don't even get to look in the room, however, before he grabs our arms and takes us to the common room. When we reach it, we're finally uncuffed and I rub my wrists as I look around.

The room was quite large, with several big windows on one wall. Chairs were scattered around and a piano shoved in the corner. There were several tables with board games on them, and a small TV in one corner, although all it seemed to do was show static; I could see a girl thumping on the top to try and get it to work.

I wander over to one of the tables, sitting down and resting my head in my hands. Some of the girls were talking, exchanging theories about what this place was. Some of them thought that it was a place we were going to stay whilst they were working on our releases, but some were adamant that it was just like the prison, and we wouldn't be getting out of here any time soon.

Slowly, the room began to fill up with another pair arriving every five minutes or so. In just under an hour, everyone was in and the woman appeared in the doorway, not even having to clear her throat to get our intention; forty pairs of eyes were starting directly at her. She wastes no time in delving into the explanation.

"This place was bought by the church in 1962 where it was turned into an asylum for the clinically insane," She had a weird smile on her face as she glanced around at all of us. "It was brought back into ownership by the state in 1965, however it was shut down at the beginning of this year."

"This meant that it was fair game to everyone, and shortly after it was abandoned, the lovely little owners of your much beloved prison snatched it up," She paused to take a breath before she continued. "They cleaned it up, and here you are. Briarcliff Manor: A home for wayward girls -"

"So why was it us, and not any of the other girls?" One girl speaks up; the one who had been thumping on the TV.

"Because," The woman gave a little shrug. "You are the girls that committed the worst crimes. We needed somewhere to put you where you wouldn't be taking up valuable space."

"Wait," Another girl joins the conversation. I'm pretty sure she was one of the ones who believed that we were just here temporarily before we were let out. "We're not getting released?"

The woman, who still hadn't told us her name gave a sinister chuckle, and my heart sank.

"I wouldn't bet on it, sweetie."


	2. TWO

**Disclaimer: I do not own American Horror Story.**

* * *

CHAPTER TWO

The day crawled by, with nothing to do but play board games and watch the TV. We had managed to get it to work, although the volume was so low you had to sit right in front of it to hear it. I didn't spend very long doing that - the only channel we could get was the news, anyway.

About half an hour ago, we were escorted to our cells where we were told to go to sleep. As far as I could tell, nobody had. I could hear the hushed conversations from the girls next to us. So far, Deborah had been quiet, giving me a courteous smile before she had climbed onto her bed. She was humming to herself, which was the only way I knew she was still awake.

I'm not sure how much time passes, but eventually the conversations die off, and the hallways become filled with the snores of the others. I stare up at the mattress above me, desperate for even a wink of sleep but it doesn't want to come.

"Carolyn?" The voice was so quiet, I thought I was imagining things. But then I realized that the humming had stopped.

"Deborah?" I frown, propping myself up on one elbow.

There's some shuffling from above me, and the Deborah drops down from her bed, smiling slightly. She holds two things outstretched in her hand, but from where I am, I can't see what they are.

"They're hair grips," She whispers, her face lighting up with excitement. "I found them under the chair in one of the rooms. We can use them to get out."

"Get out? Now?" I question. "What do you mean? get out of this place altogether.?

"No," She scoffs. "That'd require a lot more planning. I mean out of this cell, silly. We can go exploring. As long as we're back before they come to wake us up, nobody will know anything."

"What about the guards-?"

"Geez, you ask a lot of questions," She interrupts me, moving towards the door, beginning to pick the lock. "The guards won't be expecting anything because it's the first night. We'll be fine, don't worry."

The lock clicks after several minutes of silence, and Deborah pushes the door open carefully, stepping out into the hallway. Looking both left and right before she beckoned to me.

"There's a guard down there," She points to the right, where I see a man slumped over in his chair. "It looks like he's asleep, but we should still be quiet. Come on, let's go."

We turn left, tiptoeing down the hall, pushing through a pair of heavy wooden doors. We reach another hallway, and looking down one way we can see the spiral staircase we came up originally. I look to Deborah, and she seems to read my mind, peeling away from the wall and beginning to walk in the opposite direction to the staircase.

I begin to follow her, and we reach another set of doors which Deborah pushes through. She turns to tell me that all is clear, but an expression of horror clouds her face. I look over my shoulder, my eyes widening at a figure at the end of the hallway.

"What are you two doing out of your cell at this time?" The voice was soft, and the person it belonged to stepped forward. It was a blonde nun. She looked at us disapprovingly. "And what on earth are you wearing?"

I look to Deborah who looks as equally confused as I am. "We're wearing the uniform."

"That's not the uniform, the uniform is gray," The woman scoffs. "I'm going to have to take you two to Sister Jude."

"Who's sister Jude?" I frown, and Deborah nods.

"You know who Sister Jude is," The nun laughs. "I'd be a bit concerned if you didn't."

"I'm sorry Sister-" Deborah pauses, realizing that neither of us actually knew the nun's name. "I'm sorry, I can't remember your name."

"Sister Mary Eunice." The Sister's expression echoed mine and Deborah's; she was now just as confused as we were. Whoever she was, she was obviously used to people knowing her name, and being afraid of her too.

"Ah, that's it," Deborah gives her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry but we don't know a Sister Jude-"

Another voice interrupts us, and we wheel around to see who it was. A guard stands there with his arms crossed. "Who the hell are you two talking to?"

* * *

The office was sparsely decorated, with only a desk and a cupboard pushed up against one wall. Deborah and I were seated in two uncomfortable chairs, staring down at the floor. It was half three in the morning, and we had been caught.

We were still confused as to who Sister Mary Eunice was; when we tried to explain to the guard and looked behind us, she'd vanished. Then we were dragged here and seated whilst they fetched someone.

The doors open again, and the woman who greeted us when we were here marched in. She was wrapped in a dressing gown, and her hair was shoved up into a ponytail. It was evident that she had just been woken up, and that she wasn't happy about it either.

"What do you two think you're doing!?" She yells, glaring at us. "How did you get out of your cell?"

"I found some hair pins under a chair in the common room," Deborah murmurs, going bright red. "Used 'em to pick the lock."

The woman plops down in the chair opposite us, letting out a sigh. "Carlton said you were talking to someone. Who was it?"

"We were talking to Sister Mary Eunice," I say. "She asked us what we were doing out of our cells and what we were wearing. She was going to take us to Sister Jude."

"Sister Mary Eunice?" The woman seemed to recognize both of the names. "Why would she take you to Sister Jude?"

"We don't know," I shrugged. "We don't know who Sister Jude is."

"Sister Jude was a nun who worked here, back when this place was owned by the church. She was the administrator," The woman sighed. "Sister Mary Eunice worked under her. They say she got possessed by the Devil. She was killed here in this building."

I look to Deborah, unsure of why we were being told all of this. "So we were talking to a ghost?"

The woman raises her eyebrows. "A ghost? Don't be silly. I think you two knew about this already and you're just trying to throw us off. Not going to work, girls."

She nods towards Carlton who moved towards the cupboard, unlocking it slowly. He pulled the doors open to reveal a selection of canes. Deborah went pale and immediately started struggling against the straitjacket.

"No. Please!" She begged, and I could tell that she was terrified.

"Deborah, please stop," The woman said. "I'm not going to punish you this time, but mark my words. If anything happens involving you two again, you will be receiving lashes. Carlton, please take them back to their cell and make sure that they don't get out again."

"Yes Dr. Allen."

* * *

"Dr Allen is such a stupid name," Deborah huffs once we're back in our cell, both of us sat on her bed, dangling our legs off the edge. "Fucking bitch. I can't believe she was going to cane us."

"Why did you get so...?" I begin to ask, trailing off. I look towards her, and she sighs.

"Panicky?" She prompts, and I nod. "My Pa wasn't a very nice man after Ma died. Everything would set him off. He used to have a walking stick he would hit me and my brother with whenever we misbehaved. It was just bad memories, that's all."

"I'm sorry." I give her a small smile, unsure of what else to say.

"Nah, s'okay," Deborah shrugs, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "I gave him what he deserved. He'll never hurt me again."

"You killed your dad?" I gasp, leaning forward.

"It's why I'm here," She nods. "But I don't regret it. Not one bit. He was evil, and I don't care what anyone says."

"Oh." I shift uncomfortably, not sure what to do with that information.

"I'm going to bed. Night." Deborah says abruptly, and I jump down from her bed as she gets under the covers.

"Night." I get into my own bed, too, falling asleep almost as soon as my head hits the pillow. It had been a long day, and even though my mind was racing with the events of tonight, I needed my beauty sleep.


	3. THREE

**Disclai** **mer: I do not own American Horror Story**

* * *

CHAPTER THREE

A scraping sound fills the room, and I sit up, panicking for a few seconds before I realize where I am and that the sound was just the door opening. I hear Deborah shifting above me, letting out a moan.

"Come on," A guard steps into the cell, looking at both of us. "Get up. It's time to go to the common room and eat."

Rubbing my eyes, I stand up, looking past the guard and out into the hallway where other girls are being escorted from their cells. I had no idea what time it was, but it must have been early because even the guards looked like they just wanted to curl up in a corner and sleep.

Deborah drops down beside me, her hair a mess of tangles. "Where's the hairbrush?" She asks.

The guard ignores the question, walking out and expecting us to follow, which we do. Both of us were too tired to do anything, and the threat of lashes scared both of us. He leads us into the common room, where we collapse on one of the sofas.

"What time is it?" Deborah yawns, stretching out across the sofa.

"Too early," I respond, looking around the room for a clock. "I dunno, there's no clock in here."

"No clocks and no hairbrushes," Deborah sighs, closing her eyes. "What does this place have?"

The doors open, and Dr Allen appears, pushing a trolley with a stack of bowls and a huge pot of-

"Porridge," I grimace. "This place has porridge."

Deborah raises her eyebrows, still with her eyes closed. "You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding."

"I'm not," I reassure her. "We have porridge for breakfast it seems."

Dr Allen calls us into line, and reluctantly we queue up. She ladles some porridge into a bowl, hands it to the girl at the front of the queue, repeating the process over and over. Standing in line, I realize how hungry I am. I doubt that this would fill me up, however, so I'd just have to wait to see what was for lunch.

I reach the front of the queue and am handed a bowl. I step aside, waiting for Deborah before we take our places back on the sofa. Deborah stares at the bowl unimpressed.

"It's lumpy!" She yells in disgust.

"It's supposed to be," I say, stifling a laugh. "Just not this lumpy."

Deborah takes a spoonful, shuddering. "It tastes like shit."

"Okay, we are totally overreacting," I sigh. "It's just porridge."

"Well, I don't see you eating it!" Deborah mutters around a mouthful of the stuff. "It's bad trust me. If I wasn't so hungry, I would've chucked this all over that witch."

After her remark, we eat in silence, looking around at the other girls. A group are clustered in front of the television, some by the piano, laughing about something. The majority of us were sat on the sofas chatting among ourselves, or playing board games. One girl in particular catches my eye. She looks quite young, maybe just having turned fourteen and sits in a corner, knees drawn to her chest. Everyone else seems to be ignoring her.

"Hey, Deborah," I turn to the flame haired girl beside me. "Do you see that girl over there?"

"The one on her own? Yeah, I see her."

"Do you think we should go and say hi?" I say, standing up. I'd go anyway, even if she said no, just to check if the girl was okay.

"I don't see why not," She shrugs, walking over to the girl with me in tow. She holds out her hand for a shake once she reaches her, smiling softly. "Hey, I'm Deborah and this is Carolyn," She gestures to me and I give a small wave. "Are you alright?"

The girl takes Deborah's hand, and returns my wave. "Yeah, I'm okay. Why'd you ask?"

"You looked sad," Deborah shrugs. "Thought we'd make sure. What's your name?"

"Luelle." The girl answered. "Or just Lu."

"If we're going on nicknames, feel free to call me Deb." Deborah smiles.

"Why didn't I get that option?" I frown, acting offended. "Fine. You can't call me Carrie, only Lu can."

Luelle laughs, standing up. "You two knew each other before this?"

"No," Deb shakes her head. "Where'd you get that from?"

"You just seemed to know each other really well," Lu says. "Listen, do you two want to get out of here?"

* * *

Me, Deb and Lu sat on one of the tables with a board game on; checkers. I fiddled with one of the pieces as Luelle explained her plan. She'd had an uncle in here when Briarcliff was an asylum.

"We were visiting one time and I overheard some people talking about a secret tunnel out of this place. If we could just find that tunnel then we could escape." Luelle finished her explanation, leaning back in her chair.

"Do you know where it is?" I ask. "Or that it's even a real thing?"

"No," She shakes her head. "But the people talking about it seemed to think it was real. Anyway, in a place this big there has to be more than one way out of here."

"Great," Deborah says. "When are we gonna look for it?"

"I was thinking tonight," Luelle says. "When the guards go to close your door, stick your foot in it. Not all the way, of course, but just a little bit. I did it last night just to see if it would work and it did."

"I don't think this is such a good idea. Not tonight anyway," I say, frowning. "Me and Deb just got caught out of our cell last night. If we get caught again-"

"Carrie, shut up," Deborah groans. "Tonight sounds good, Lu."

* * *

I lay on my back on the bed, staring up at Deborah's mattress above me. Our door was slightly ajar, and at the moment, everything was going to plan. The hallway was silent, and we were ready to sneak out. I still had a bad feeling about this, but no matter how many times I tried to protest, Deborah always cut me off.

"Now."

The whisper was barely audible, and Deborah slowly climbed down beside me, careful not to make any noise. I stand up, and we sneak out. Farther up the hall, we see Luelle's door moving, and a small figure dart out. We freeze when it's followed by a larger one.

The two disappear through the double doors that we had yesterday. Slightly confused about who the other girl was, we follow anyway.

As we push through, Luelle and the girl jump, relaxing when they realize that it's just us.

"I hope you don't mind that I brought Elizabeth," Luelle says, gesturing to the other girl. "She asked to, and I didn't want to say no.

"It's fine," Deborah says quickly. "Now, which way shall we go. I say that we go this way." She points to the way we'd gone yesterday.

I nod, agreeing with her. Both of us wanted to see if we could find Sister Mary Eunice again, and get some information out of her. If she was dead, she'd obviously worked here, so she should know the way out. We had rehearsed what we needed to say.

We walked through the doors, and sure enough, there she was. Luelle and Elizabeth both froze, but Deborah walked over to her.

"Excuse me, Sister," She said politely. "It's us again."

"Oh," The nun looked at the group of us. "I see you've brought friends."

"Yeah," Deborah nods. "We were just visiting our mom. Our dad's waiting outside in the car, but we're not allowed out through the main doors - the guard says it's too late for anyone to leave - do you know another way for us to get out of here?"

"How do I know you're not just patients trying to trick me?"

"Because," Deborah says after a moment. "Are we wearing the uniform? The uniform's gray, right? We're wearing brown."

"Very well, girls," Sister Mary nods. "Come with me, I have a way out."


	4. FOUR

**Disclaimer: I do not own American Horror Story**

A/N: I am so sorry that this took so long. I've been busy with work, school and family stuff. I haven't abandoned this, and I won't. I can't promise weekly updates since that depends on how busy I am, but you shouldn't have to wait this long! I feel so bad, so I rushed this chapter for you guys haha. Sorry again!

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR

We follow after the blonde nun, keeping an eye out for any guards or people other than us that might be lurking. So far, everything was going good, better than we thought. Sister Mary Eunice was so easy to persuade, it was almost too good to be true. Anyone could ruin it for us now, whether it was a guard or another patient who had the same idea as us, we just had to hope it didn't have it.

"This is the place," Sister Mary Eunice stops outside a door, turning the handle. "Go through there and there's another door, it's hidden behind some furniture, so you might have to shuffle a few things around to be able to open it. It'll lead into a tunnel and if you follow that all the way down then you'll come out at the side of the building. Either go to the front and leave through the gate or if you don't want to be bothered by that, you can always go through the woods and you'll end up at the roadside. Be careful girls and have a good night."

"You too," Deborah smiles politely, moving towards the door which the nun had pushed open. "We appreciate it very much. We'll see you around when we come to visit, I guess."

"It's no problem, girls," the nun shrugs. "And yes, I'll see you four around I guess. I hope you don't mind me asking but who's your mother?"

"Her name is Katherine," Luelle says quickly, leaving the rest of us confused, but not questioning it. "She really hasn't mentioned us?"

"No, not at all," Sister Mary Eunice shook her head. "She's mentioned a son-"

"James?" Luelle cuts in. "Yeah, that's our brother. He couldn't come today though because he was ill."

"Well, I'll ask her about you tomorrow. I'm sure you're lovely girls," Sister Mary Eunice smiles. "Now, I've got to get back to the patients. Get home safely!"

We all bid her goodbye and pile into the small room. We close the door behind us, staying silent just in case anyone should hear us from the hallway. We'd done enough talking tonight, anyway.

Elizabeth and Deborah both start moving things around and, after shoving a laundry basket and mattress away from one of the walls, we find the door. Still being careful not to make any noise, unwilling to have our freedom taken away again, we all file into the tunnel with Deborah closing the door behind us, plunging us into darkness.

We all immediately begin to run, our feet beating rhythmically on the hard cement ground. We were so close and all it would take was one person to ruin this all for us and send us back to our cells. I never thought I'd say this, but I wanted to go back to the prison and it had only been two days.

The darkness of night came into view, and we all began to speed up, eventually emerging from the tunnel. Heavy rain pours, soaking us to the bone, but none of us care. We're too happy.

"Where now?" Elizabeth yells over the howling wind. "Through the woods?"

"Yeah," Deborah nods. "I know a place we can go."

"Where?" Elizabeth asks, beginning to walk towards the woods with us following.

"My uncle has a house out here he uses when he comes to visit throughout the summer. It'll be empty now so we can crash there for the night," Deborah shrugs. "They won't check it immediately, they'll be too busy questioning our parents and friends, but once they start looking at our other relatives, they'll look straight away. Sound good?"

"Sounds great."

* * *

It takes a while to walk to the house in question, slowed down by the wind. Deborah leads us, taking us to the back of the house where she lifts up the doormat and slides the key from underneath. She unlocks the door quickly, and we all file in, closing and locking it behind us.

Finally out of the wind and cold, I let out a sigh of relief, making it into the living room where I collapse on one of the sofas, tired, cold and hungry. Luelle collapses next to me and Deborah and Elizabeth fall onto the arm chairs.

"Who's Katherine, Lu?" Elizabeth yawns. "I forgot to ask earlier, and I'm curious."

"She was a patient in the asylum," Luelle answers. "Her son used to visit on the same days I visited my uncle, he was okay I guess. She was the first person I thought of when the woman asked."

"That's nice," Deborah butts in, standing up. "But I'm going to go and have a shower. You guys can decide who goes next. We can sort out food after that."

She leaves the room as soon as she's finished speaking, closing the door gently.

"I want to shower next," I say, looking at the younger two girls. "You two don't mind, do you?"

"No," Luelle shakes her head. "Elizabeth can go after you, and I'll shower last. I don't mind."

"Thanks." I smile, and we all settle for watching cartoons on the small TV before Deborah returns.

With her hair wrapped in a towel, and sporting a set of comfy looking pajamas, she walks in. Yawning, she once again falls onto the armchair, rubbing her eyes. A glance at the clock shows that it's only 8pm. I didn't realize how early they had us in our cells for the night. Considering we had to wait a while to actually escape and we were already here.

"Are you going next Carolyn?" She asks, and I nod. "Okay, well, there should be some clothes for you in the room opposite. It's my room when I stay here. We're roughly the same size, so I assume my things will fit you."

She turns to Luelle and Elizabeth, the two younger girls. "I'm not too sure about you two, though. You'll probably have to roll them up or something. We can figure out something else tomorrow."

I stand, leaving the room as they begin to talk among themselves. I make my way into the bathroom, and take off the asylum dress. Deborah had left the shower running, and I step in, letting out a sigh as I feel all the dirt and grime wash off. I may have only been at that place for two days, but it wasn't exactly sanitary there. I take the time to wash my hair and body before I get out, wrapping myself in a towel.

Walking into the room opposite, I look through the drawers with Deborah's clothes in. Choosing a simple nightgown, I get changed into it and drag a brush through my knotted hair, using a hair tie I find on top of the drawers to tie it back out of my face.

"I'm done." I announce as I walk into the living room sitting down again. Luelle gets up and leaves, returning not long after wearing a nightgown similar to mine. The only problem being it was a little too long for her.

After Elizabeth had showered, Deborah and I left to look in the kitchen for food. The cupboards were practically empty save for a few tins of fruit. Grabbing some spoons, we had back into the living room, handing both Luelle and Elizabeth a tin and a spoon as we all settle down.

I never expected that I would be so happy to eat fruit out of all things, but it was so damn nice. I eat the whole thing, even drinking the juice. Of course, all the others do the same. Deborah collects our cans, and heads upstairs. She comes down with several blankets draped over her arms. She hands them out, and leaves again This time returning with pillows.

Explaining that it would be easier for us to sleep in one room, she begins to make herself comfortable on the armchair, as does Elizabeth. Luelle and I both lay across the sofa, with her at one end and me at the other.

With it being a long day, it doesn't take long for us all to fall asleep, the room becoming full of soft snores.


End file.
